Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is one of my games to buy in September. Thankfully, for those unwilling to splash the cash to buy the game on release Lucas Arts has gone and released a demo on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. I had a play through the Xbox 360 demo and here are my impressions.

I’ve always been looking forward to a Star Wars game which effectively makes use of the force powers that mark both the Star Wars films and the Expanded Universe (such as the novels). In previous Star Wars games it never really seemed like you controlled the most powerful force in the universe, but I’ll put this one down to the lack of technology rather than the shortcomings of the developers. In Star Wars: The Force Unleashed you have all the power of the force at your hands, and we all know that it’s far more fun using the force on the dark side. The demo is pretty short but extremely sweet, and it gives you enough time to get to grips with the new spectacular ways of using the force while easily leaving you wanting more.

After a short cinematic featuring the great Darth Vader himself - and where you learn that Starkiller’s (the character you play) father, a Jedi, was killed and Vader took him as his apprentice - you’re thrown straight into an Imperial shipyard with the task of hunting down a Jedi and killing everyone abroad (including Imperials). The first few corridors let you get to grips with your force powers (although there is a short tutorial as well). They’re packed full of droids and crates that you can throw around to your leisure using the force grip. To use your force grip you select your target (Starkiller auto targets when you look at something) and press the right trigger. Once it’s up in the air you can control it by moving the right and left sticks up and down to move the object up and down or forward and back. You can throw the object by pointing the left stick in the direction you want to throw and hitting the left trigger. There’s an especially cool moment in this first area where you can pick up an object with your force grip and throw it through a window, sucking everything in the immediate area out into space before the bulkhead shield slams down.

Your force grip comes into better play when you’re faced with a group of soldiers, be them rebel or imperial.  In the demo you usually approach them from a distance, such as in one of the TIE Fighter (which, incidentally, you can pick up and throw with the force grip) hangers, so you have ample time to grab something with your force grip. For instance, you can grab an explosive barrel and launch it into a group of soldiers, the resulting explosion killing some of the group while knocking the others to the ground. If you’re brave enough you can approach and take them out with a lightsabre (see next paragraph) but I much prefer grabbing hold of one with the force grip and tossing him across the room, possibly into a set of explosive barrels. When floating a guy through the air there’s neat little touches such as him grabbing hold to a handhold on the ground, or grabbing old of a comrade as he floats past so they both go flying around. You can also use the force push that will send anyone in the way flying, and as Starkiller increases in level this is one of the moves that will get more powerful. In the demo you can also use the force push to rip through heavy bulkhead doors, while the force grip allows you to bend support struts into the oncoming path of TIE Fighters. The force grip controls can take some getting used to, especially in the heat of battle where it’s easy to target the wrong thing. Also, you have to be quick as a laser bolt can make you drop whatever you have in your invisible grasp.

Starkiller is a pretty athletic guy and has a set of fluid movements in his arsenal. You can jump fairly high, especially combined with the double jump, and slam down with the lightsabre - which is perfect for landing in the centre of a group. You can also execute the force push in mid-air, which also lets you extend the blast downwards. You can combine lightsabre attacks with the force grip, such as dragging a person towards you with the force grip, slashing them with the lightsabre and sending them flying with your lightsabre still impaled in them. Your lightsabre then returns to you, spinning through the air like a boomerang. If all else fails you can just hit ‘y’ and execute a lightning bolt - which has the ability to take down a few guys if they’re standing close together.

The end of the demo - which comes far too early in my opinion - see’s you fighting an AT-ST Walker. Large enemies like these are where the double jump comes in handy as you can jump up and slash at it in the air - which comes in handy for avoiding the laser fire. While you’re on the ground you can avoid the rapid laser fire from the walker (and the storm troopers around it) by using the dash skill. When you get the walker down to a certain level of health a QTE (Quick Time Event) will activate, which means you have to press the button that pops up on screen with perfect timing. If you do this correctly Starkiller will slash the walker in two from the bottom up, which ends the demo.

Flinging storm troopers around is pretty fun, but it’s hard to see how this can get you through the entire game. If Lucas Arts manages to put out a decent storyline and also manages to expand on the innovative force powers seen in the demo then Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will be a pretty wild ride. From the variety of settings and moves seen in the media released so far it just may turn out to be one of the finest Star Wars games yet, and a very action packed one at that.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is released for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation 2, Wii, Nintendo DS, PSP, N-Gage and the iPhone on September 19 (UK).